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many badminton photos are simply a closeup of the players, this is best to show the action and facial expression of the players. these are also the easiest to compose. like the simple rule of portraits, you can have the player centered or make use of the rule of 3rds.

these are the easiest.

as you advance, then you start to zoom out, these are the captures of either a pair of players, or the player + the environment.

these require more thoughts and are harder to capture.

firstly, you need to find the right action (badminton photos are mostly action anyway), or the right moment.

adding in other elements starts to let the photo show more than just the person, now it will start to tell a story, a story of the match, or any incidents within the match, or simply a story that tells us whom is playing with/against whom.

however, this is the part that is hard. as you include more and more elements into the photos, the extra elements need to contribute to the photo. otherwise, it will just cause the viewer to get confused by why those extra elements are there. at the least, it should be visually pleasing, or shows the environment the subject is in. the most difficult ones are one that actually illustrate what the photographer is trying to convey to the viewer/reader. top news photos by really great photographers always have these ability to tell a story from a photos. just look at the photos accompanying headline stories.

as a rule, the wider your zoom out, the harder it is to make a proper composition. as you will inevitably include a lot of elements outside the main action. and all those element must fit into the photo in a way that make sense. that's why i always admire photographer who can shoot badminton with a wide angle lens.

from your choices, i would choose C. A/B includes a lot of space that neither contribute to the visual nor the story telling of the photo. at least crop C shows some action and has the essential environment.

In general, it's really up to you but what consistent features to get are:

1) the tighter you crop, the more impact of the photo

2) good facial expression can only add

3) shuttle in the picture adds effect but not mandatory.

Good pointers. Shuttle can be left out indeed, still looks okay ... Maybe next year I will be a little more active and get closer up . This was more or less my first time out with dslr, borrowed from my brother. Filming is so much less work

(Obviously I have endlessly read the threads here for settings and techniques )

And thanks for the summary kwun . It was harder than I thought to keep shooting after the point had been scored to capture the expressions, etc. Or "harder", it hadn't crossed my mind initially until I had some wish I had shot that moments .
C would be the logical choice yes and was what I first did but the entire effect of the net having been hit disappeared. Obviously it doesn't show at all in the pic but this was near match point, an easy halfcourt opportunity ... and mega-blasted into the net . I guess perhaps I would crop it even tighter now and only have Ikeda in the pic(?). Still experimenting, nothing serious anyway ...

Here, the larger photo is quite OK. I decided to try to crop closer. I really prefer the shuttle to be in the shot. The player is looking towards the direction of the shuttle and the opposite side of the net which is something I look for.

Here, the larger photo is quite OK. I decided to try to crop closer. I really prefer the shuttle to be in the shot. The player is looking towards the direction of the shuttle and the opposite side of the net which is something I look for.

the cropped version is much better. in fact, a publishable quality with that crop, the facial expression of the player, and the shuttlecock. the uncropped version includes too much extraneous surround that adds little to the photo.

I agree about the busy background. It's something we see a lot in badminton. One way of excluding it is to take a high angle. But then we lose a feel of depth in the photo - is that due to the telephoto effect?

Here, the larger photo is quite OK. I decided to try to crop closer. I really prefer the shuttle to be in the shot. The player is looking towards the direction of the shuttle and the opposite side of the net which is something I look for.

Yep nice cropping, looks much more intense that way . Guess this one is somewhat similar but don't think I had to crop (could still use some cropping on the sides though)

edit: I see now it's 4:3 already, guess I must've done some cropping already ...

Too bad this one is spoilt by the "extraneous surround" . I guess the crop area for this one would be just the male with up to the bust of the lady in frame ...

Hej Johansen, velkom tilbage . Come a long way since your Pentax . Actually I have visited fjerbolden quite a few times already from badminton-nyt ... Hadn't really noticed untill now but you hardly have any pics of people smashing, most "action" shots are netshots. Of course this makes it much easier to have the shuttle in the frame.
As for my shots you are right about white balance. I had and have little to no experience with DSLR and hoped to work around by shooting RAW. Not ideal but one step at a time . Next time that will be one of the extra steps to go ...

Hi Demolidor
I am impressed that you remember way back to my pentax days. It is a while ago.
And I must say that i totally agree that Kwun is a excellent shooter.
I didn't mention raw files. That was a mistake. You have to take pictures in Raw, it is essential, so that you can correct any mistakes.
I don't think smash shots is the key to good pictures.
But a good variety of shots from all angles is the way.
I personally like these kind of shots. All taken with 300mm f2.8.